Funding February: AI a powerful force for good?
In late January, The National Lottery Community Fund, the UK’s largest community fund, published their guidance on using AI for funding applications and their 10 principles for using AI to benefit people and communities. We take a look at this guidance and where you can find out more about AI and support your organisation.
The move comes as the Fund acknowledges the growing role of AI in our lives and workplace and the opportunities it presents in improving both accessibility and efficiency for organisations applying for funding.
The National Lottery Community Fund has defined 10 principles for using AI, setting out how it will use AI to benefit people and communities and will host a free online event on 11 March to share learning and encourage collaboration across the sector.
Sarah Watson, Head of Innovation at The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
“AI is set to be a gamechanger for charities and community groups, helping them to free up time to focus on supporting communities, and to think about bigger questions such as how we address the challenges facing society today. It has transformative potential for us as a funder and could free up time for us to focus on work that is uniquely human, such as listening to communities and our grant holders. Equity and fairness are at the heart of everything we do, and we believe that if deployed in the right way, AI can be a powerful force for good.
“We know that many other funders, community groups and organisations are thinking these issues through, so we encourage people to join us at our free online event on 11 March for an honest conversation about how we’ve developed our AI principles with experts Tim Cook, Founder of AI Confident, and Dan Sutch, Director of CAST, and to share learning and best practice across the sector.”
To book a place at the free online event on 11 March visit https://ow.ly/ePt450ULLX3
The National Lottery Community Fund's guidance for using AI in funding applications
The National Lottery Community Fund position on the use of AI tools in funding applications is:
- You can use AI tools to help write your funding application. They will not reject an application just because AI was used.
AI tools can support you if English is not your first language or if you’re new to writing funding applications. Many of their customers find that using AI helps them write their applications faster and with less effort.
- Use AI with caution
AI can provide a useful starting point but often what it produces for you is not as strong as it might appear. AI supported applications do not tell the unique story of your community and how you want to support them. Being too generic in content may disadvantage your application.
For more of their advice, visit Using Artificial Intelligence tools in funding applications
The Skills and Knowledge Gap
According to the 2024 Charity Digital Skills Report, 61% of charities are already using AI but The Status of UK Fundraising 2024 Benchmark Report found that almost 70% of charity professionals said they did not have the resources to explore how AI could be used, pointing to a gap in skills, confidence and capacity in the sector.
Several organisations from the voluntary and community sector are addressing this gap including NICVA:
NICVA, in partnership with CiviCode, has developed a tailored course to equip voluntary and community organisations with practical tools to thrive in the digital age.
These 7 half-day sessions at NICVA, including practical takeaways and follow-up activities where participants will learn to develop sustainable digital strategies, strengthen cybersecurity, manage service providers, streamline operations, and leverage workflows, automation, and AI. You will also gain the skills to measure impact, create meaningful reports, and tell compelling data stories—all designed to help your organisation make a lasting difference.
Their Artificial Intelligence Hub explores how AI impacts the charity sector, how charities can reap the benefits and protect against the harms of AI, how to use AI ethically and responsibly, and so much more. Sign up for their AI newsletter
Their AI hub is filled with updates and resources to help charity communications teams navigate the dynamic world of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Explore their learning hub, a source to help you learn AI skills and get ready to power AI transformation with the Microsoft Cloud. Begin your AI learning journey with their curated Plans and resources, designed to support business and technical roles, individuals, and organizations in building AI skills.
In partnership with Microsoft, Neighbourly offers 'AI Skilling' initiative offering you free AI training by equipping small charities or community organisations with essential AI skills to empower you to innovate, save time and increase efficiency. This goes live March 2025 - Sign up to get involved.!
Funder WCIT hosts AI/ML Learning Exchange for Charities and not-for-profits. They aim to help charities and not-for-profits embarking on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning with thought leadership and practical advice in a sales free, technology agnostic and vendor neutral environment.
Local recruitment consultant Matthew McArthur, the creator behind Foresight AI, provides a range of articles and resources to help you understand AI and how apply AI at work today.
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